Nicholas D. Wolfwood (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
el_llorono) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nomans_land2023-07-13 10:08 am
el_llorono) wrote in nomans_land2023-07-13 10:08 am
Near the ruins of JuLai, after the trip to White Shield
[Late in the night, across the radio waves that could be reached from the transmitter in Rem's old station and when everyone else in the household would most likely be asleep, the device kicked on seemingly all by itself and began transmitting what sounded at first just like static. After a few moments, though, if one were to listen close enough, a voice that was familiar to some could be heard, faint, as if coming from down a hallway. Operating this thing was strange for him, and manipulating the energies to get it to work the way he wanted wasn't quite the same as what he was used to when he was just speaking out loud, but he was doing his best.]
Hey, Needle-Noggin.
Really startin' t'miss you over here. We were on the road to Home the last time I saw you. The Earthquakes started and knocked us down. I think you saw me, just before I disappeared. You hadn't done that before. Not since December. It's been a long time. I'm sorry.
Anyway, I looked for you for a while, but...I found others, first. A couple different versions of you, another me, a sweet lady who I think you'd be happy to see. Things have been happening over here, though, people have been gettin' hurt, and...I can't really help 'em much, but I don't want to leave, yet. I'm worried something'll happen to 'em if I do, but...I'm startin' to worry that somethin' might happen before I find you again, too. I'm really hopin' you can hear this out there. None of the You I've seen have been right. They don't have the little bits of grey hair near your ears. They're all too young.
I know even if you do, you might not believe it's me. Might think it's one of the other ones that're runnin' around. I'm here, though. An' if you wanna come find us, I can explain. I think at this point, I owe you that much, for the little scare I must've given you out in the desert.
Look for a little radio station with a house attached to it, on the outskirts of the ruins of July. I know, terrible location, but I don't think they knew where it was when they originally built it. If you see the little cross made out of a couple of nails hangin' from the porch railing, then...just...I dunno. Sit with me. I'll be nearby. No drinks this time, though, it doesn't do anything for me anymore.
Otherwise, just give a shout. Someone should be able to hear you. There's people wandering in an' out a lot. Kids you might recognize, old faces you haven't seen in a long time. I don't really do much sleepin' anymore, so there should be someone awake to meet you, whenever you get in.
Uhhh...I guess...Punisher? Signing off.
[The crackle of static continued for a few more seconds before the device shut back down. It had been intentionally vague, yes; the last thing he wanted was to alert every bounty hunter on the planet that his old man was headed to JuLai, especially not since it would put an entire family of innocent people in danger. He hoped his voice was enough, that the old nickname and that stupid code name he'd been given, would all be enough to tell the people who needed to know just who was talking, and who the message was for.
Either way, for a good portion of the days that followed, a tiny cross made from a couple of construction nails tied together with twine - a simple enough thing for him to manage on his own - could be seen dangling from the railing of the porch. Anyone who sat down near it wouldn't realize it until he spoke up, but Wolfwood was sitting against the wall behind it, near the door, watching for anyone who might have followed the directions and come by for a visit.]
Hey, Needle-Noggin.
Really startin' t'miss you over here. We were on the road to Home the last time I saw you. The Earthquakes started and knocked us down. I think you saw me, just before I disappeared. You hadn't done that before. Not since December. It's been a long time. I'm sorry.
Anyway, I looked for you for a while, but...I found others, first. A couple different versions of you, another me, a sweet lady who I think you'd be happy to see. Things have been happening over here, though, people have been gettin' hurt, and...I can't really help 'em much, but I don't want to leave, yet. I'm worried something'll happen to 'em if I do, but...I'm startin' to worry that somethin' might happen before I find you again, too. I'm really hopin' you can hear this out there. None of the You I've seen have been right. They don't have the little bits of grey hair near your ears. They're all too young.
I know even if you do, you might not believe it's me. Might think it's one of the other ones that're runnin' around. I'm here, though. An' if you wanna come find us, I can explain. I think at this point, I owe you that much, for the little scare I must've given you out in the desert.
Look for a little radio station with a house attached to it, on the outskirts of the ruins of July. I know, terrible location, but I don't think they knew where it was when they originally built it. If you see the little cross made out of a couple of nails hangin' from the porch railing, then...just...I dunno. Sit with me. I'll be nearby. No drinks this time, though, it doesn't do anything for me anymore.
Otherwise, just give a shout. Someone should be able to hear you. There's people wandering in an' out a lot. Kids you might recognize, old faces you haven't seen in a long time. I don't really do much sleepin' anymore, so there should be someone awake to meet you, whenever you get in.
Uhhh...I guess...Punisher? Signing off.
[The crackle of static continued for a few more seconds before the device shut back down. It had been intentionally vague, yes; the last thing he wanted was to alert every bounty hunter on the planet that his old man was headed to JuLai, especially not since it would put an entire family of innocent people in danger. He hoped his voice was enough, that the old nickname and that stupid code name he'd been given, would all be enough to tell the people who needed to know just who was talking, and who the message was for.
Either way, for a good portion of the days that followed, a tiny cross made from a couple of construction nails tied together with twine - a simple enough thing for him to manage on his own - could be seen dangling from the railing of the porch. Anyone who sat down near it wouldn't realize it until he spoke up, but Wolfwood was sitting against the wall behind it, near the door, watching for anyone who might have followed the directions and come by for a visit.]
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Oh. Uh. Wait, she's here now? Not from before, up...? [He pointed up at the sky, blinking and looking around as if he expected someone to just manifest, when he knew they wouldn't. If anyone knew about a ghost lurking around the station, it would have been him. But there was no suspicion in his reaction, just pure, simple confusion.
And then, of course, the tiny idiot had to ask for the one thing he'd just soothed himself about not doing, and the confusion evaporated into an expression that was...too neutral.
He didn't answer for a while, suddenly seemed way too interested in his cigarette as he finished the one he'd manifested, flicking the butt away to disappear before it ever hit the sand, and then made another one to immediately replace it.
He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. But the kid hated it when people kept things from him, he had watched how he'd become increasingly distressed as the people around him danced around things they knew he wasn't ready to hear. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad? Maybe without the context of the whole thing, it wouldn't be as upsetting for him? And he was growing fast, if this was how big he was at just a year and a half. It wasn't going to be long before he was an adult, at this rate, and sure, it was a good idea to only let kids in on the really scary stuff as they got older and better able to handle things, but if they waited too long, he was going to have grown up without having some of the big, scary things trickled to him so he could properly deal with them, right-...?
Even with the cigarette, he was fidgeting hard, flexing his fingers in and out fists, shaking the tension out of his fingers, cracking his knuckles. He wasn't comfortable, not at all.
But he was, unfortunately, also a big pushover when it came to children. And to Vash.]
Just...keep in mind. I mean it when I promise ya, I'm not gonna go around lookin' like this. No lurkin' over your bed or nothin'. [The changed happened slowly, and while he couldn't seem to look up and meet the kid's eyes when he did it, Wolfwood was focused on every little sound he made. One little sound of distress, and it was right back to normal, lively-looking, non-scary Nicholas!
He reached up to ruffle his own hair anxiously as the color of his skin went pale and grey, his coat ripping itself to ragged tatters that barely hung properly and revealed patches of the white shirt underneath, drenched in blood. By the end of it, his eyes had gone milky blue and sunken in, the blood on his clothes spreading up onto his face and hands, and the muscles on his face didn't...sit right. Slack, loose, looking even more wrong with the way every expression that crossed his features pulled in ways that shouldn't have been possible as he looked now.
He was very much a dead man, sitting up, blinking nervously and looking downright timid for an adult bearing the scrutiny of a small child as he finally risked a couple darting glances over at him.]
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Besides, it's more interesting watching the ghost get ready to be scary! He's stretching and shaking out his hands, moving a bunch... Vash watches, excited. This is gonna be good!
And then, the ghost changes... and Vash's excited little face sags with disappointment. Not fear -- there's no fear at all, not even the tiniest bit. Sure, the ghost looks all shot up and bloody, and his face is pale and kinda sagging, but he just looks like a zombie! Not even a really scary zombie with his eyes hanging out and missing an ear or his nose, Vash can't see his organs or anything... he's just a corpse. That's sad, maybe, but not scary. ]
Oh. [ Sorry, Nicholas. That's not going to frighten this kid. ] I thought you'd have big sharp teeth, or... [ He hooks his hands into claws and waves them in the air. ] ...y'know, monster stuff. You just look dead.
[ If he smokes, does the smoke come out of the holes in his chest? That'd be really cool! ]
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No, no. No...claws. No monster stuff. Well. Ok, I'll give you the teeth. [He actually pulled his mouth into a wide-open grin, reaching up to pull his lip back so that he could see that he did indeed have strangely large, sharp, fangy teeth for a normal human. Luckily, that had only ever been the single "monstrous" thing about him that people could see from the outside. The rest of it was, unfortunately, all carried internally.] But then I had those since-...well. They didn't happen because I died, let's just say. I bet you got 'em, too, huh? Or...well, maybe you will when you're older? You lost your baby teeth yet? Do plants have baby teeth? I just know big you's got 'em.
[Sorry, bud. All the holes had already closed up by the time he'd passed on, the serum had made sure of that. The damned things had taken their pound of flesh out of his insides, healing up what could be seen on the surface level but stressing his body out far beyond what it was capable of handling. There wouldn't be any smoke coming out of chest-holes for him.]
CW: teeth
He's got sharp canines too, although they'll get bigger and sharper as he grows. He shows them off in a ferocious grin-slash-snarl... but those aren't monster teeth. They're just normal planet teeth, and plants aren't monsters. ]
What're baby teeth?
[ Babies have teeth, sure -- they grew in right after he and Knives were born. But they don't come out, he can't lose them. That's weird! Is that a human thing?
Do humans take out their babies' teeth?! Vash puts a hand over his mouth, and regards Nicholas with suspicion. ]
They don't come out.
CW: Baby Teeth talk
The kid giving him a big, fangy grin, though? That got a grin and a laugh, which only grew at Vash's obvious confusion and distress over the concept of baby teeth. Alright. So they didn't lose them the way humans did. That answered a question for him that he'd never even known he had.]
I'm not gonna try an' take your teeth, kid. It's just somethin' that happens to human kids. We're born with two sets, but the big adult teeth are hidden until our faces are big enough that they'll all fit, then they grow in and push the baby teeth out of the way, and they just... [He pantomimed pulling a tooth out of his mouth on the end of a string - something that might not make sense to a kid who didn't know teeth fell out in general, but that was the frame of reference Nicholas had, regardless - and made a loud Pop with his tongue.] Come right out! Apparently some families who have more money than we did at the orphanage even have a little tradition of tellin' their kids a magical fairy will take their teeth if they leave 'em under a pillow the night they fall out, and leave a double-dollar for 'em in exchange. Then, when the kid goes to bed, Mom or Dad'll sneak in an' swap the tooth out for a coin, an' the kid gets to go buy a candy bar the next mornin'. Makes it seem less scary for the kids who haven't done it a couple times already and won't know it's not as bad as it sounds. We'd walk around with one of our tiny teeth all loose, wigglin' it around with our tongues, until it just decided to come free one day. It was usually only one or two at a time, so by the time we were your size, we'd've had 'em all swapped out over a couple years. Had my first one come off with a piece of sticky candy I had one day. Taffy's the best for it.
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Congrats, Nicholas. You found something scary! ]
Do any of your other bones come out? Like your fingers?
[ His teeth grow and stretch just like the rest of his bones do, like normal. What kind of terrifying creature sheds teeth like a shark? ]
cw: knuckle cracking
Naw, at least not intentionally. Well, unless you count this. [He reached his hands out, pulling on his fingers one by one until his knuckles popped loudly, and then laced his fingers together to bend them all back at once so they popped again in unison, like popcorn.] Though I think poppin' your knuckles is less pullin' out your bones an' more jimmyin' the joints around until they got air under 'em. Or somethin'. But no, they don't come out. It's just the teeth.
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Teeth coming out isn't normal, but at least it sounds like that's the only bones that fall out of humans! ]
Humans are weird.
[ He's going to check his teeth -- and Nai's when he's back -- every morning from now on, to make sure none of them are loose, so thanks for that! ]
So did you know me when I'm older? [ Now that he's not worried about the ghost stealing his teeth, he can't help but wonder why the ghost is here in the first place. Was he also brought to help this world's Vash, like the rest of them? If he knew Rem after the crash, he might have known Vash and Nai -- or Knives -- then too, right? ] Is that why you got brought here, because we're gonna know each other later?
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I mean, yeah. There's nobody gonna argue with you on that one. There's a whole lotta the way we work that just don't make a damn bit of sense.
[He will, honestly, be very delighted to watch the confused flailing that got him the first time he tried to check Nai's teeth. There was even a tiny part of him that would take some smug enjoyment out of it at his expense. Not as much as the other Wolfwood's, maybe, but still a bit.
The grin on his face faltered at the question, though, for just a moment, and when it came back, it was...unsure. Awkward. He hadn't really wanted to get into this with him, but when all you had to do was sit around and literally people-watch the family around you, you picked up on things pretty quickly. Like how frustrated he tended to get, when people kept things from him. And if Vash was going to know he was there, he wanted to be as little of a bother as possible.
So eventually, the smile settled back on his face, a little sadness lingering behind his eyes as he suddenly found the nonexistent dirt beneath his fingernails to be very interesting.]
Yeah. I knew you when you were older. Honestly...I know about as much about why I'm here as anyone else does. Is it 'cause I knew you before? [He shrugged, sitting up and looking back at him as he slapped his hands down on his legs and then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He didn't even seem to care that the angle made him sit far enough forward that the porch railing ended up going right through his shoulders.] I dunno. I just know I was walkin' down the road with my friend one minute, found myself here the next, and he was gone. Kinda wish it hadn't happened, I'm real worried about findin' 'im again, but...I got t'meet all of you, and it made me stop...hidin' so much, so. Maybe it's not so bad, yeah? I hadn't really talked to someone properly in a long time. It's nice. I like talkin' t'everyone.
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Vash's chin starts wobbling again, just a bit. He's sad for Nicholas here, and for his friend, he's missing Nai so much... and, as much as he tries not to think about him anymore, he misses Knives. They all left people behind when they were brought here, didn't they? People they'll never see again, or talk to again, or... or...
Nope, here come the tears. ]
I'm... I'm glad you're not hiding. It's not good to be all alone.
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That just makes him immediately turn into a worried teddy bear.]
Oh, hey, no, it's ok! [He pushed himself off of the edge of the porch, but instantly sat down criss-cross in the sand; sitting up above him on that elevated level was no better than standing over him. Kids did better when you were at their level, when they were upset.] Listen to me, you don't have to worry about me, ok? I promise, from your side of things, it always sounded so scary, but it's not, ok? I wasn't ever alone. You meet other people on this side, too. They pass on, an' sometimes you meet 'em, and sometimes it's old friends, sometimes it's new people you never met. I had people to talk to, lots of times. But even when they'd moved on...I still got to be with my friend. And things aren't scary on this side. Nothin' can hurt me, I don't get hungry, I don't get tired, it's peaceful. So don't be afraid, ok? And don't worry about me. I'm ok. I promise, I'm ok.
[He's hurting him, isn't he? Should a kid his age even be dealing with this kind of weight? It's not right for him to be pushing these kinds of existential worries on him before he was ready. He really should have stayed quiet!
The thought that he was the cause of pain for a child had always been enough to upset him, even before December. This was even worse.]
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But being a ghost doesn't sound so bad. Never hungry, never tired, meeting all your dead friends and family and new people, all the time? Plus, Nicholas is here talking to a living person, so ghosts don't even have to give up their living friends! That's not so bad at all!
With a final sniff, Vash rubs his eyes dry. Nicholas is being really nice -- he's even sitting on the ground so Vash doesn't have to look up at him! -- and here Vash is crying like a baby. Tears aren't going to make Nai come back. Tears won't let him see Knives again. They just make everyone else upset and give him a headache. ]
Are there other ghosts here? Or just you?